This investigation examined the relationship between the kinds of activities the mother and infant and father and infant engage in with objects in the home environment and the development of object permanence and problem solving behavior. In the laboratory 13-month-old infants were assessed using three problem solving tests designed to measure the ability of infants to detour--to use an indirect means to obtain a desired object obstructed by a barrier. Data were also collected during a home visit where the experimenter conducted an interview with the mother concerning the variety of activities she and her husband engaged in with the infant involving the demonstration of a conceptual rule such as showing the infant how to find a hidden toy, highlighting similarities and differences between certain objects, and the demonstration of variations of the peek-a-boo game. A test of Object Permanence was given using a scale for assessing Object Permanence developed by Uzgiris and Hunt (1966). The raw data collected using this scale were analyzed with a scoring system devised by Gouin-Decarie (1966).